Shadow of the Nile
by snakeboy33
Summary: Three new halfbloods appear, and Mr. D and Chiron are forced to protect them, but their father is Set, an Egpytian god. And if anything goes wrong, a way between the Greeks and the Egyptians could erupt, a war that could destroy the world. Slight PxA.
1. A Crocodile Wears Diamonds

Ch 1

**Ch 1**

**A Crocodile Wears Diamonds**

It was one of my normal dreams, if you call a terrifying and intense image that was unfortunately true normal. But instead of the common giant dogs or bulls and the deep, dark shadows, it was midday and bright and I saw a _crocodile_?

I've seen crocodiles in the zoo before, but this one was different, it was as long as an eighteen wheeler truck, at the highest point of its back it was about as tall as a trailer. And to make it even stranger, it had a tall crown on the top of its head that had a jewel in the middle. As it lumbered along I noticed that the crown was a V shape that had what looked like a diamond just hovering there in between the two stands.

The giant reptile just walked not so gracefully through the streets as though it belonged there, apparently there were no people in the area. Then it embedded its snout into a dumpster and fiddled through it, and when it came out with nothing it calmly walked towards the sand and dug through the sand. It seemed to be searching for something.

It continued to search until it hit a large sand dune; it dug into the sand dune, and then pulled out a large crook that looked like the ones shepherds used, but this one was smaller and looked like it was made out of gold with small blue rings going around it. It resembled some kind of Egyptian object I'd seen once in a museum. It carried the crook out in its mouth and held it tightly.

The crocodile walked out towards a large café where a tall man was sitting, sipping an espresso. The man was wearing an A's baseball cap, had a large black shirt that had a crocodile crunching a car on it, bright blue shorts, and was wearing small round sunglasses, he looked African American. The crocodile walked right up to him and dropped the crook at his feet like a dog handing over a stick after a game of fetch. The man picked up the crook, examined it, and smiled.

"Very good Petsuchos," the man said. The crocodile bowed its head, but then turned and hissed. The man looked up and saw a random cyclopswaking in their direction. The man sighed, set the crook on the table, and then grabbed a magazine off another table, and began reading.

"That would be your reward, my son," said the man. The crocodile turned towards the cyclops and with a hiss held its crowned jewel up to the sun. The cyclops growled and continued to approach them holding up a large mace. The sunlight magnified and shot out in beam, and scored a direct hit in the cyclops' face. The cyclops roared, and fell to the ground clutching what appeared to be his burning face. The crocodile, aimed its jewel again, and sunlight shone again and hit the monster in his gut, the cyclops then collapsed and turned to dust.

"Greek monsters have such obvious weaknesses," the man said. That surprised me; he appeared mortal at first, just a man with a giant pet croc. But now that he knew about the monster and that crocodile was named and had magical powers, I knew he was immune to the Mist. And the way he talked surprised me even more, he sounded like he was not connected to the gods.

The man stood up, held up his hand, and caught some sand from the designating cyclops. He opened his hand and looked at it. He grinned.

"We could put this to good use," he said, and then took off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of alligator green eyes. He took the crook of the table and poured the sand over it. The crook seemed to glow a rather creepy yellow and blue glow, and then faded.

"Excellent," the man said," but now I must return to the Nile, I fear my lack of presence there could unsettle the crocodiles." And then with that, seemed to blow away like sand, the monsters did when they were killed. The crocodile just stood there, then turned towards where I would be standing, aimed his jewel, and fired the sunbeam.

I woke up suddenly, back in my bed, in my apartment. I took my magical sword Riptide out of its resting place and held it tightly.

"Come on Percy," said my mom," today's the last day of school, and we still have to pick up Annabeth and Grover to take them to camp." I smiled at that, I could tell my friends about that dream I had. But that dream was disturbing; it felt as though something very powerful had awakened after a long time. I couldn't tell who that man was, but I could tell something, he was an Egyptian.


	2. We Make Pleasant Talk With a Vulture

**Ch 2**

**We Make Pleasant Talk With a Vulture**

I checked my watch; so far, I wasn't close to being late. I stepped off the bus I took, and ran up the steps of Goode High school. Being there was enjoyable since Grover and Annabeth ended up going there too. During my year, I had to say it was a good year, but I knew that if I wasn't careful, once again I would end up battling a monster, being expelled, and end up being on America's Most Wanted. Oddly enough the monsters and the gods were strangely quiet; I never saw any evidence of some kind of catastrophe in the making. But before I got too fixed on that topic, I stored it away and continued heading towards my locker.

When I got to my locker, I began to wonder if I should tell my friends about my dream. I knew that strange man was Egyptian, but he seemed rather peculiar; I've seen many Egyptians walk the streets, but none of them appeared similar to that man. One of the obvious aspects was his very odd liking for giant crocodiles, but what really made him strange was his ability to change into sand. We were learning about Egypt today in history class, so I figured I would take some notice to that.

"Percy!" I heard Grover say as he walked over towards me.

"Hey Grover," I responded as he trotted over," Where's Annabeth?" Grover shrugged.

"Haven't seen her," he said," I think she might be coming soon." After he finished, the bell rang.

"Well, I have to tell the two of you something when recess starts," I said," about a dream I had."

"Okay, but lets have class first," said Annabeth as she walked up.

"Where were you?" I asked.

"Bus was late," she stated simply.

"Ah," Grover and I said together.

We went into class, where we studied Egypt. Normally my friends and I found it very boring since we knew it was the Olympians who were the big guys. But this time I had a dream depicting some powerful Egyptian, I paid attention. Unfortunately by dyslexia kicked in, and I couldn't concentrate, thus, learning zilch.

Recess began, and people went outside to talk and play sports. I then took this chance to talk to Annabeth and Grover about my dream. Even Annabeth was stumped.

"None of us are familiar with the Egyptians, but what I can tell you is that it is said that a dead Cyclops is an omen of war," she explained.

"So they are dangerous in death as well as in life," said Grover," now that's just plain weird."

"I must agree with you on that one," said a woman's voice. We whipped around looking for the source, we had all heard it.

"Who said that?" asked Grover.

"Come over to the bushes and you'll find out," the voice answered. I took out Riptide and tensed, but when we entered the bushes, all we saw was a bird. Looking a second time, I noticed that it was a snow white vulture with an orange head and some plumage on the top.

"Where are you?" I asked, looking around.

"You're looking at the source," the voice said. Then we turned and gaped, the voice was coming from the vulture.

The vulture laughed. "Surely you have seen or heard your fair share of animals talking to you," it said.

"Uh, yeah," I responded.

"Then sit down," the vulture said gesturing with its foot. We sat down automatically and hard, as though there some kind of force pushing as down. There was an awkward silence.

"You are very quiet," said the vulture, which we dubbed a "she".

"It has been awhile since we talked to a bird," Annabeth said.

The vulture smiled. "I do not blame you," she said," but most people I talk to are honored, I don't to everybody in this form."

"What do mean by this form?" Grover asked uneasily.

The vulture cocked her head at Grover. "Come now, think about it," she said, and then she blinked and laughed like she just remembered something ridiculous. "I just realized I hadn't properly introduced myself," the vulture spread its wings in a greeting. "I am Nekhbet, goddess of mothers and protection," she said. Grover's eyes widened, Annabeth gasped, and I gaped and we all began to kneel.

Nekhbet waved her wing. "Do not bother," she said," and no need for formalities."

"I am sorry, but have not seen you before," Annabeth said," are you one of the minor goddesses?"

Nekhbet looked offended. "Field of Reeds no, I am very important to the kings, I protect them along Wadjet, the daughter of the great Uraeus," she said.

"Then we have not seen you on Olympus," Grover said.

The goddess looked at him and blinked. "My dear acquaintance, I do not go to Olympus, I hail from the Great Pyramid," she said.

"Then would that make you an Egyptian goddess?" I asked.

"And I'm honored to be one," Nekhbet said. We all stared at her; it was just like my dream, although the man in my dream was not a god.

"Yes he was a god," said Nekhbet reading my mind," and not just any god; he was the mighty Sobek, great lord of the crocodiles and the so important Nile."

"So that is why I had such a strong connection to the crocodile," I said.

"Exactly," Nekhbet said. There was a brief silence and Grover broke it.

"Where did you say you come from?" he asked.

"The Great Pyramid of the Sun," she said," it's in California, and if you find Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, you can find the palace."

"Why are you here?" asked Annabeth. Suddenly Nekhbet spread her wings, and then her head seemed to rise out of the feathers, revealing her neck covering them both in a brown fluffy down, her wingspan grew and her feathers changed from white to brown. Suddenly a different kind of vulture was facing us.

"Sometimes I like to be a Nubian Vulture instead of an Egyptian Vulture," she explained," and to answer your question, I was traveling through the area with Wadjet, when I lost her, and while I was looking for her I stumbled into your school."

"I mean, what are you doing in New York?" Annabeth asked again.

"Well, we had to do a mission for Uraeus, guardian of Egypt," Nekhbet answered again.

"What was the mission?" I asked.

"It was too….," she began, but before she could finish the bell rang, and when we turned back to the goddess she was gone. As we walked back to class, we talked about the encounter with an Egyptian deity.

"Never before have I heard of more then one god pantheon, this is major, we must tell Chiron of the Egyptians," Grover said, Annabeth and I agreed.

"Is there any threat?" I asked.

"I don't know, but if we are not careful with the information, a war could break out between the Egyptians and the Greeks," said Annabeth.


	3. Grover Becomes a Snake Charmer

I Become a Snake Charmer

**Ch 3**

**Grover Becomes a Snake Charmer**

The moment after the bell rang, a stampede worthy of Apollo's cattle occurred. The buses were swamped with students going home to begin their summer vacations, and to me it was cause for celebration, I finally did not get expelled from the school and went a whole year without running into any monsters. But I and my friends had to get to Camp Half Blood fast; Chiron had to be informed of the encounter with the Egyptian goddess.

We climbed into the bus and sat down, Grover and Annabeth on the seat across me while I sat alone.

"The moment we get to our houses we pack up and get ready tomorrow," Annabeth said," we have to tell Chiron."

"I don't get it," said Grover," how could there be an entirely different pantheon right under our noses, even the Olympians didn't notice them?"

"Maybe it was because that the Egyptians were the masters of disguise," I joked. Grover laughed, but Annabeth only smirked and shrugged.

"It's hard to say, maybe it was because of the fact everyone only believed in the Olympians," she guessed. We made a couple of more guesses, but we continued to dismiss them and allowed the bus ride to continue.

"Hey Annabeth, what makes you think there could be a war?" I asked her.

"I guess because of rivalry, I mean both pantheons are probably powerful, and if the gods were to find out of intruders in there land, they could be enraged and declare war against the Egyptians to drive them out of the land," Annabeth answered. Suddenly the bus stopped.

"Why have we stopped?" asked Grover who had fallen asleep.

"Maybe we're dropping someone off," I said.

"But no one is getting off," said Annabeth. I stood up to try and get a better view of the front of the bus. There was some kind of thing just lying in the road. The bus rider got off the bus, and walked over; he bent down as if to push the thing out of the way, but a long object shot out of the shape and batted the bus driver into a nearby tree. Suddenly the object unraveled itself like a snake uncoiling, then I realized something, it WAS a snake. And a big snake as well, it had to be forty feet long and when it reared up I realized it was a maroon cobra. It looked into the bus and spread a hood as wide as a slider door doorway. It let out a screech and the students responded with a scream.

The cobra slammed its head into the windshield breaking it and slithered into the bus. Students ran out of the bus as fast as they could, and the cobra let them. It just scanned the bus like it was looking for something, poor Grover looked traumatized, he had run into a giant diamondback once in the Labyrinth last summer, and he was still frightened by the event.

"Grover, you can speak animal, try talking to him!" I said quickly without thinking, and figuring the cobra was a male.

"What?!" he squawked," I can't talk to him, well I can, but what's saying he wouldn't eat me?"

"Our lives could depend on it goat boy!" cried Annabeth as the cobra slithered forward.

"Fine!" agreed Grover, he then turned to the snake and said some words in animal. The cobra turned to him, and flicked its tongue. Apparently relieved the snake wasn't trying to swallow him alive, Grover said something else. The cobra continued to stare. Grover nodded and continued, but then after he finished, the cobra's eyes turned to slits and struck at Grover. Grover would've been snake chow if I hadn't pulled him out of the way. The cobra reared back up and spat out a piece of stuffing and a spring. We all ran out of the place like our lives depended on it, which it probably did.

We ran into Central Park, I looked back; the snake was following us at top speed. We continued running, I looked back again, hoping the snake was slowing down; not only was it not slowing down, it was speeding up.

"What did you say?!" Annabeth and I asked Grover in union as we ran.

"I just asked him what he was doing here, he said he had mission, and I asked him why it was so important that he had to intrude our bus and attack our bus driver," Grover answered throwing up his hands.

"How did you communicate and how did it respond, snakes have no ears," asked Annabeth.

"How he heard me, I don't know, but he talked to me through telepathy," answered Grover. I noticed we were all getting tired, I looked back.

"The cobra's gone!" I yelled. Annabeth and Grover looked back. We scanned the area, no sign of our least favorite snake.

"Maybe he gave up," I said.

"I hope so," responded Grover. But just as we turned around the cobra slithered right up to us, he had gone around. He narrowed its eyes, but he was focused on Grover, apparently still very angry. Thinking quickly, or did I act without thinking again, I uncapped Riptide, and slashed at the snake, but the blade bounced off harmlessly against his scales. The cobra turned towards me, seeming angry at me now.

I ran away in just a split second, trying to outmaneuver the snake. The cobra circled around me and coiled around me, constricting me. It squeezed harder and harder, and I was beginning to find it hard to breath. Suddenly I heard a sound like flute being played by a goat. I turned to find Grover playing his reed pipes in some sort of tune. But whatever kind of tunes it apparently hypnotized the cobra as he turned his head towards the source, let me go and slithered right up to Grover. Grover continued playing and the cobra began to coil up, just staring at him, his pupils getting wide.

I ran up to Annabeth who was staring at Grover.

"What's he doing?" I asked.

"I think that's a hypnosis tune he's playing," Annabeth answered," but Grover can't hold it forever, we need to find away to capture or kill the snake."

"Forget killing it, those scales are impenetrable," I told her. Annabeth looked around, and pointed.

"There's the river over there," she explained," if we can get into the fountain, maybe when can find away to restrain it." Grover had heard that, and he began to back up towards the river, the cobra followed him, completely mesmerized.

We followed Grover and the giant reptile, and I was surprised how nobody noticed the snake, maybe the Mist showed them something like some kids leading a dog. Grover continued to walk, until he tripped on a rock that just lay in the middle of the path, and unfortunately, dropped the reed pipes. The cobra suddenly reared up and shook; its pupils then turned to Grover and narrowed. And before Grover could get up, the snake swung his tail and hit Grover into a family having a picnic, who screamed.

The father glared. "Young man if you think…," he began, but he was cut off by the arrival of the cobra and began to constrict Grover while the family ran away. Annabeth and I looked on with shock as the cobra opened its mouth, to sallow Grover. I saw the opportunity; I ran forward, and drove my sword into the snake's open mouth. He let a tremendous scream and let Grover go, the snake turned to sand, but not like the other monster's who blew away, his body literally was made of black sand. He then blew away while screaming.

"Wait ago Grover, you're an honorary snake charmer," I told my friend, slapping him on the back," but how did you hypnotize the snake, if the snake has no ears?"

Grover shrugged," I guess it was just the magic that controlled the snake." We ran out of the park, we knew that if we weren't careful, people would see us in the site where the snake was, and once again, we would be on the news cast in search of three teenage criminals.

"You know, this only hastens the need to inform Chiron of the Egyptians, because I can tell, that snake wasn't there by coincidence, he was looking for something," Annabeth exclaimed," somebody sent him there."

"You know, in my dream, the crocodile was looking for something as well, it was some kind of crook, only he found it," I said.

"I hear that Egyptian royalty carried objects made of solid gold that symbolized their power, that probably was one of them," Grover said and then gasped," I bet the snake was looking for one of those."

"Well he obviously didn't find it, but whatever it is, we have to get to camp," I said," we don't know what those objects can do and we're running out of time."


	4. We Ride On a Dead Bus

Ch 4

**Ch 4**

**We Ride On a Dead Bus**

Unfortunately our bus driver was trapped in the tree, so the school bus was struck off the list, and we were in pretty intense need for a ride, primarily to houses and then to Camp Half Blood.

"Well, anybody got any ideas?" Annabeth finally asked.

"We could take the Gray Sister's Taxi," I suggested. But Annabeth shook her head.

"We would have to make about three different stops," she said," that costs about five drachmas and we don't have any at all."

"To bad, or we could send an Iris message to Chiron," Grover said.

"Well we have to think of something quick," Annabeth said, tugging on her shirt collar nervously," we need to get to camp ASAP."

"Did I just hear someone wanting to get somewhere ASAP," a rough, deep voice suddenly said. We turned and saw what looked like a skeleton, except it still had a lot of its flesh decaying around it so you could see through it. One would think that I would have gotten used to the undead before, but this guy actually freaked me out, I mean he had eyeballs that looked like that were irregularly placed in the eye holes, like a plastic surgeon had just felt for the eye holes and just shoved them in there. He had no lips, making his teeth be permanently showing, he had a huge hole in his head, like someone had torn out a large chunk of his head. Long story short, he was really, really, REALLY ugly.

"Imhotep is the name, getting somewhere fast is the game," the zombie said plucking at a name tag, but when I looked at the letters, I realized they were hieroglyphics, the Egyptian alphabet. I looked over at Annabeth, she wobbled a little bit while looking at the creature, and then at Grover, I then found out he had passed out.

"You're a mummy aren't you," said Annabeth worriedly.

"Unfortunately," Imhotep said.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I heard you needed some help, so here I am," he answered.

"How can you help us?" Annabeth asked.

"I own a bus," the mummy answered.

"How did you know we needed help?" Grover asked as he wobbled up. Imhotep looked at him annoyed.

"How about you all stop asking these questions," he growled. Grover nodded rapidly.

"Now, come along," the mummy said gesturing," we won't get anywhere by just standing around." He led us to a bus stop in a beat up part of the town, I opened my mouth to ask were his bus was, but I looked at the frightful specter and though against, I guess my years of training were paying off, I was finally getting common sense. Imhotep faced the street, held up is hand, opened it, and let sand fall out of it to the ground. Suddenly the sand swirled up and began to materialize into the form of a bus. Imhotep sighed.

"I miss becoming a sand storm, then I could take down anyone I wanted, but now I have to deal with traffic," he said out loud, whether he was just talking top loud or he wanted us to hear that I never knew.

"Well, come on," he said. We nervously climbed on to the bus, and when I looked around, I was surprised. It was one of those travel buses used to travel between states from the inside complete with a restroom and tray tables in the back, yet from the outside it looked like a normal city bus.

"What will this cost us?" I asked as we all sat down.

Imhotep looked back from the driver's seat. "We will ford that river when we come to it," he said, telling us that it was not the right time to talk about it.

"Everyone ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," we all said.

"Alright, here we go," Imhotep said, and then he slammed so much power into the gas that I was surprised he didn't break it. We went so fast that I was thrown to the back of my seat; Grover went on a flying trip to the back of the bus; and Annabeth was deposited into the seat behind her.

"Okay, first off all, we will find ourselves in your home Percy," Imhotep said.

"How do you know my name and how to get to my apartment?" I asked/yelled.

"Immortality gives me the chance to learn things," Imhotep answered. We then pulled up to my apartment complex, which I found surprising since Central Park was about ten minutes from my apartment, and we had got there in three.

"Now hurry up, we don't want to be delayed," the mummy said.

I ran up to my mom's apartment, I knocked on the door; Mr. Blofis (my stepfather) opened it.

"Oh Percy, I guess you're here to pick up your stuff," he said with a smile.

"Exactly," I said, barely being able to keep a steady voice," and where is my mom?"

"She went out to the store, come on in," Blofis said, opening the door wider, and stepping out of the way. I walked into the apartment and then into my room, I fidgeted out everything I would need, and then told my stepfather I would be going to camp now via bus. I ran down the stairs, and back into the bus.

"Good timing," said Imhotep," next destination is Annabeth's house."

"But is all the way on the other side of the city," Annabeth said, but Imhotep had already killed the accelerator and was driving off at high speeds, and in about five minutes, we arrived at Annabeth's house.

"Now go," said Imhotep. Annabeth ran into her house.

"What if her stepmother looks out the window and sees a bus made out of sand outside?" Grover asked.

Imhotep waved his hand dismissively. "Not to worry, I have a cloaking device," he said.

"The Mist?" I offered. The mummy just looked at me awkwardly, which was easy since his face was already extremely awkward.

"The what, I'm talking about the Shadow of the Sun; it allows us all to live in peace, blending in, so to mortals, it looks like a normal bus," he said. I was about to say something, but Annabeth ran into the bus, with her stuff, and Imhotep gutted the gas again.

"Next stop: Camp Half Blood," he announced. I was beginning to think I was going to get whiplash as he drove, but the ride began to feel smoother all of a sudden, like it was normal.

"Hey Imhotep," Annabeth said," why are you driving a bus, I mean, weren't you like a priest or something?"

"It is a very long, and far beyond unimaginable painful story," the mummy said," but let's just say, love can drive you into the path of chaos sometimes, and sometimes the path can have all kinds of twists, turns, crossroads, and bridges."

Before we could ask anymore questions, we pulled up to the beach on Long Island by Half-blood Hill. Imhotep stood up and faced us.

"Now concerning payment, all I need is for you to open a chest," he said, pointing to large chest in the back.

"If that is just all, okay," Grover said as he began to stand up to walk back there.

"Yeah no problem," Annabeth said following Grover as I followed her. When we reached the chest, Annabeth pulled us down.

"This is to easy, this has got to be a trap," she said," I mean look at him, he could have opened this chest himself, long ago, and he is all tensed." I then noticed that he was tensed, as if the moment we opened the chest he would attack us.

"We have to think of a plan, because he won't let us off the bus if we won't pay," I said.

"I have an idea," said Annabeth and she told us.

"You sure this will work," Grover said nervously.

"Don't worry," Annabeth said, she then stood up and faced Imhotep," excuse me, but could you come over here and show us how to open it?"

Imhotep let loose an exasperated sigh. "Fine," he said," but bring the chest here." Me and Grover hoisted it up and walked over to the mummy.

"Bend down," he gestured, and we did," all you have to do is this." And just was about lift the chest open with our help, we broke off, ran into the bathroom, and shut the door tight, Imhotep lifted the chest open himself.

"No," he screeched, and he then let out a very loud roar. I opened the bathroom door, and the last we saw of him was the mummy being sucked into what looked like thin air.

"What happened to him?" asked Grover.

"The curse, stated that anyone who opens the chest or is around when the chest opens, Imhotep will consume those people, and he will be fully regenerated, he would look normal," Annabeth said," and since he was the one who opened it, he consumed himself."

"How did know that curse?" I asked staring at her, she just shrugged.

"I guess it was because I'm a daughter of Athena, I know things," Annabeth said simply.

"Well, the important thing is, we're here, so let's go inform Chiron," Grover said as he began to climb off the bus. We followed him, and the moment we stepped off the bus completely disintegrated into sand. We ran up the hill. We said hello to Peleus, the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece, and I noticed that he was growing fast, already he was forty feet long, and his talons seemed to be getting bigger.

"Well, what are we waiting for!" Annabeth said.


	5. We Meet Death Valley's Kids

**Ch 5**

**We Meet Death Valley's Kids**

**(I'm going on vacation, so don't expect any updates extremely soon)**

After saying our hellos to the fellow campers, minus the Ares Cabin, we immediately went to Chiron.

"Percy, Annabeth, Grover!" he greeted, while Mr. D did nothing more than turn a page in his magazine.

"Chiron, we have something, incredibly important to tell you," Annabeth said quickly, and we all did. After we finished Chiron sat back a little, and tugged his short beard, even Mr. D looked up on this.

"I must say, I am intrigued, shocked, and slightly frightened," Chiron finally said," I have briefly taught student about Ancient Egypt in the past, but I always figured that their gods were simply interpretations of our own, Mr. D?"

Dionysus leaned back in his chair, thinking. "I must say, in all my years in Olympus, there was no knowledge of a second god pantheon," he stated.

"This is very important, the camp must be notified immediately," Chiron said standing up straight.

"That might have to wait," Grover said, facing the window, I followed his gaze. Two teenagers, and one pre-teen, were walking down the hill towards the camp, the teenagers, one boy one girl, were probably thirteen or fourteen, the pre-teen, a girl, was probably twelve. They were all wearing very dark shades and short sleeved shirts. The boy (who was walking in the front) was wearing a black t-shirt that read in red _Geographic Expeditions_ with a red Chinese dragon, and wore bright read shorts, he was very tall, taller then me and Annabeth and had dark blonde, short hair. The older girl was wearing a white tank top with jeans; she also had dark blonde hair, but was not as tall as the boy. The other girl (obviously the other girl's younger sister) was wearing a black tank top and jeans, she had bleached blonde hair. They were all carrying some kind of pack, even though the boy was wearing his on his back.

"Looks like we might have some wandering hikers or customers," Chiron said, slipping into his wheelchair.

"Yeah," I said, but as I said that I thought _I hope_, don't get me wrong, but after what I had seen today, I was pretty suspicious of strangers. Chiron wheeled out of the Big House, followed by Mr. D, me, Annabeth, and Grover. Other campers walked out of their cabins or stopped what they were doing to approach the newcomers.

"Can I help you?" Chiron asked. The boy surveyed the camp in response and nodded.

"Well, if you're on a hike, the road is that way, and if not, we don't do marketing on this farm," Chiron said.

"We know," the boy said, still looking around.

"So go on," Mr. D said lazily, waving his hand.

"I don't think we should," the older girl said calmly from behind the boy," oh, and the dragon, not the best we've seen." As she said this she jerked her thumb to Peleus, this surprised everyone in the camp even Mr. D.

"It's not a dragon," Chiron said, rapidly snapping his fingers but to no effect.

"You can stop doing that," the boy said," we're half-bloods." This also surprised the camp, this time other than the Mr. D, who sighed, and leaned back against the wall. Chiron also smiled.

"Well, very well then, do you know who your parents are?" he asked, climbing out of his box, revealing his centaur body. The children all nodded, and Chiron gestured for them to answer.

"Is he or she part of the pantheon?" he asked. Then the girl with blonde hair said something that made everyone in the entire camp, even Dionysus, eyes bulge.

"You mean the Greek Pantheon?" she asked, and Chiron nervously nodded.

"No, our father is not," the boy said.

"Then who is he?" Dionysus questioned uncomfortably, which everyone seemed surprised about. The boy opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, sand by the beach on the lake began to swirl up and move to the center of camp. In the sand vortex, a tall figure began to appear, and when I mean tall, I mean god tall, at twenty feet, as the sand began to disappear, I saw he was a man wearing a white t-shirt with khaki shorts. When he fully appeared, a wave of fear and shock shifted through camp, the figure had the head of a scorpion. A couple of the girls screamed, but then Annabeth began to wobbly, I rushed over to her and caught her in a faint, a couple of the boys saw this, Travis Stoll winked at me. The figure stood tall over the camp.

"I am Set," he boomed," Lord of the Desert, and Egyptian god of Chaos and Storms." The camp just stared at the god, no one knew of Egyptian gods. Set walked over to Chiron, shaking the ground each time he laid his foot down.

"These are children," he said pointing to the kids, who looked perfectly calm," Grant, Sara, and Shelby, you will protect them." Then Mr. D did an extremely stupid thing, even for him.

"Why?" he lazily questioned. The god of chaos turned to our head, and as he turned, sand swirled around his scorpion head, as if molding, and suddenly became an Egyptian cobra complete with a hood with blazing red eyes.

"Becaussssssse they are on the run from a terrible demon," he said smoothly like a steam engine.

"And so is everyone else in the camp, but we don't do Egyptians, go build your own camp," Mr. D said waving his hand. Set's pupils narrowed into slits, his head then changed into that of a rhinoceros, his eyes still bright red. He then waved his hand, and suddenly a huge wave a treasures, stacked up higher then the Big House materialize, with gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and many other kinds of jewels, some of girls cooed at the sight of all the treasure. Mr. D surveyed the treasure.

"This is only the smallest part of the smallest part of the smallest part of the treasures of Egypt," Set growled," protect my son and his half-sisters, and I will give you enough treasure to fill up the entire valley." Mr. D just waved his hand dismissively.

"I seldom take bribes," he said. Set growled again, and his head became a lion.

"I will give you the ultimate protection, the Army of Anubis," he said desperately. Mr. D shook his head.

"The power of a thousand undead souls," Set yelled, his head becoming a hippo. Mr. D turned away.

"I will let you borrow the Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun-Re," the god said quickly, his head becoming a leopard; his kids stared at him for a second, apparently shocked at his offer.

"You're just wasting your time," Mr. D said as he began to walk away, Set began to breath heavily, sand swirling around him, suddenly his head became a creature I had never seen before, it had big pointed upward ears, a long snout, and a snake like mouth and eyes, still red, like someone had combined a snake, with a donkey, and an aardvark.

"Very well," he said with an oily tone," how about this, if you don't protect them, I will turn this entire camp into one big sand dune, now." As he said this, sand began to materialize at our feet.

"I don't care for any of these insolent children," Mr. D said, thunder then rumbled over head.

"I am sorry Mr. D, but it might be a good idea to try to address the god of chaos a little nicer," Chiron said worriedly.

"Listen to him fool," Set rumbled, he then smiled, and believe me, I don't want to see him do it again," and I had a feeling you wouldn't agree, so I had a backup plan." He raised his hand, and suddenly Mr. D rose up in the air sand forming around him like a coffin, and at the same time, what looked like scarab beetles began to from out of the sand.

"Scarab beetles and immortality do not mix," Set said smoothly," the will eat at your flesh for eternity, and you will live with pain for eternity as well, protect for family and I will spare your freedom, do we have a deal." Mr. D glared at him.

"You really think this can hold me," he snapped, he then closed his eyes as if willing the sand to leave him, but it didn't.

"This is sacred sand, some of it was the first," Set exclaimed with a sneer," only the god of the desert can control it, and I repeat, do we have an agreement." Mr. D looked at him for a second and then sighed and nodded.

"Good, and remember, my spies are always watching, and if I see anything that you do to Grant, Sara, or Shelby that I don't like, every threat I said will come true automatically, do we all have an understanding," Set said, addressing everyone, and in response, we all agreed. Set then dropped our camp chief, and his head turned into an elephant, he then began to walk away, but before he left he turned to us all.

"And remember, I am always watching, always," he rumbled, he then blew away like he was made of sand. For about 20 seconds, no one breathed, the just stared. Chiron was the first to get his act together.

"Well, lets welcome the newcomers," he announced, but everyone was to nervous the children of a powerful deity, which funnily enough, the did just fine with regular newcomers.

"Didn't really expect a warm welcome," Grant said smoothly, before straightening his sunglasses and his pack and walking away with his sisters in tow. Everyone then quickly went back to their cabins, and when I went to mine I got a surprise.

"Percy!" Tyson cried, hugging me so tightly, I couldn't breathe.

"Hey big guy," I responded with a smile," Did you see what happened outside?" Tyson smile then faded and he nodded.

"Yeah, new god, I have a bad feeling about this," he said looking towards the kids you had just disappeared from sight.

"You're not the only one," I agreed.

The rest of the evening and the next two days were spent awkwardly normal, strangely enough, another cabin just materialized out of nowhere, next to the big house. Grant proved to be a loner, walking alone, and nobody approached him. Shelby and Sara were the exact opposite, the quickly made friends with other campers, particularly the Aphrodite cabin, I also noticed people were avoiding Grant more the girls. I also noted the fact that they never took off the sunglasses. One day Grover approached me.

"Chiron sent me to tell," he said," we are assigned to talk with Grant, to try to encourage him to make friends." This was what I was waiting for, I wanted to talk to Grant, but I kept missing him, or he kept dodging me and other campers, maybe now that I had instructions from the camp counselor, he could make friends. We found Grant by the lake making sand sculptures, but not normal kiddy sand castles; I mean large abstract models and exact duplicates of monuments. I also noticed that he wasn't really making them with his hands; he just stood there and the sand just arranged and rearranged, as if the sand was alive.

"Must have power of sand," I whispered to Grover," like his father." We walked up behind him.

"If you have an assignment from horse man, then hit the trail," he smoothly said, standing up, showing us he was taller then us, without even turning around.

"Look we're just trying to get you on the right foot here," Grover said reassuringly.

"I don't think I should," Grant said, beginning to walk away.

"Why don't you give Camp Half-blood a chance?" I questioned, this halted Grant in his tracks.

"Look, I'm doing this for the safety of the camp, my father might not approve of any friendships with anyone," Grant said slightly turning around," and this entire valley could be put at risk, and by the way, all children of Set have power of the sands." He then walked down the lakeshore, looking rather miserable.

As dinner came, I noticed that Sara and Shelby were sitting and happily talking with the Aphrodite kids, I took this opportunity to talk with them. I tapped Sara on the shoulder, and she turned.

"What?" she asked, but then her brow folded up," is it about my brother?" I nodded. Shelby sighed.

"He's doing it again," she whispered to Sara, and she nodded.

"We'll talk more after dinner," the older girl said addressing me. After dinner she and Shelby walked up to me, and spilled.

"Grant was always rather downtrodden at our school," Sara exclaimed," It has left him kind of emotionless."

"He doesn't trust new people immediately," Shelby said.

"He told me that it was for the good of the camp," I said, the duo nodded.

"Our father is very protective of us, Grant is worried that if he becomes friends with anyone, he will put them at risk," Sara said, this is something I had to tell Chiron, and after thanking them I did.

"That is noble of him," Chiron said," but he is too worried, he should be more open."

"Should I talk to him a little more?" I asked, but Chiron shook his head. Before either of us could say anything, a scream was heard from outside.

"Our meeting might have to postponed," Chiron said, before charging outside with his bow, and when I followed him, I was so startled at what I saw I almost had a heart attack.

**A.N.**

**Whoa cliffhanger, and for anyone who is confuse about the animal head Set becomes, look up Set animal, and I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Riordan does, and note my message on the top.**


	6. We See the Worse Snake Ever

Ch 6

**Ch 6**

**We're Attacked By the Worst Snake Ever**

Looming in the air was a snake, now you would think that I would be used to giant snakes by now, but this snake had to be at least 200 feet long, and it was lowering down from some really low clouds, so it seemed to be getting longer by the second. To make it even crazier, the snake seemed to be made out of darkness, like shadows had formed a 3D image. The snake snapped at the ground where students once were, but it seemed to be searching for something.

"Archers, at the ready!" yelled Chiron. The Apollo kids held up there boys, but when the fired, the arrows past cleanly through it. Many other campers were trying to slash or spear it with weapons, but they either passed right through it or the snake just dodged it. I uncapped Riptide and ran towards; I looked around for my friends, and I saw Annabeth dodging strikes from the snake, I saw Grover just hiding behind a tree. But what intrigue me was three Egyptians were kneeling on the sand, except Grant who was kneeling on one leg, chanting in Ancient Egyptian.

Suddenly the snake arched towards me, and with all my might I slashed, but as I expected, the blade passed clean through it. The snake then reared up and scanned the area, it then noticed the trio, screeched, and lunged. Suddenly the sand exploded, and out charged Set, with a dragon-like head at the time. He grabbed the snake by the throat, and seemed to be pushing it back; he unsheathed a large dagger, and slashed it. To everyone's surprise, the dagger seemed to cause some damage, as the snake roared and writhed on the ground. Suddenly it lashed out, and hit Set straight in the chest, knocking him to the ground. It then lunged towards, the nearest of Set's children, Shelby, it opened its mouth, and just consumed Shelby, and it began to retreat into the clouds.

"Noooooo!" cried Set.

"Shelby!" Grant and Sara yelled in union. Set stood up and lunged towards the snake, but missed it. The snake then vanished into the clouds, and disappeared. People then began to emerge from there hiding places, I ran over to Annabeth and Grover.

"Are you guys all right?" I asked and they both nodded. Set collapsed to his knees, and let out a frustrated yell that seemed to shake the ground. Suddenly Mr. D emerged, and lazily yawned and stretched.

"What are everybody standing around for and what are you doing here Set?" he asked annoyingly, of course, nothing woke him up during his afternoon nap. Set looked up at him, his red eyes burning, he began to walk towards Mr. D, and sand began to swirl up. Mr. D backed up.

"You failed me," Set rumbled.

"What on earth do you mean?" Mr. D asked quickly.

"I put it upon you to keep me children safe, and you let one of them be taken by him," Set boomed as he raised his hand, sand began to gather up around Mr. D's ankles.

"Wait, that serpent was made of pure shadow, our weapons had no effect," Chiron said rearing up briefly.

"But the drunken god here refused to use his powers to save my daughter, and now she is lost," Set clenched his raised fist, and sand gathered up to Mr. D's head," and now you shall be cursed for eternity." Just before Set could jerk his fist to imprison Mr. D, Annabeth spoke up.

"We have warriors here, we could go on a rescue mission," she said. Set looked at her for a second, and his head became a wild dog.

"I have my doubts about putting my trust in warriors like everyone here," he growled. Grant walked up to his father's side.

"We will go with them father," he said,"Me and Sara care about our sister." Set's head became a hyena, and he thought about this.

"Very well," he agreed, a sigh of relief passed through out camp, but Set's head became a jackal, and he held up a finger," however, I can not wait long, so, I will give you one week." He waved his hand and an hourglass was molded out of sand, but this glass had a vulture and a snake perched on the top, it was made out of pure gold, and the sand was solid black.

"The Sands of Time," Sara whispered to Grant.

"The countdown to the result has begun," Set chilled, his head becoming a black mamba," and time is not on your side." And with a wave of his finger, the sand began to fall, and Set just disappeared in a wave of sand, and the sand surrounding Mr. D dropped to the ground.

Chiron immediately called a meeting with all the cabins, and with Sara and Grant.

"So perhaps you two can shed some light on the situation we're in," he said. Sara and Grant looked at each other for a moment, and then Grant stood up.

"I'll start with the ID enemy," he began," his name is Apep, and he was the snake."

"So that over grown garden hose is the enemy?" Beckendorf asked without much belief.

"Yes, but don't get cocky, Apep is unlike anything any of you had ever faced," Grant hissed," now listen. Apep is the demon of shadows; he is the archenemy of Ra, the Egyptian sun god, he battles Ra every night. But my father did finally manage to defeat him, but it took over two millennia."

"So," Silena Beuagard said," how could that be Apep."

"Apep is immortal," Grant snapped at her," now listen, Apep laid in hiding for a long time, but his sudden reappearance is strange. We're still lucky Apep didn't make a full appearance."

"What do you mean?" asked Chiron.

"He means that Apep is now an undead horror, a being that has the power to send whole armies to their dooms, with just a twitch of his eye," Sara answered.

"Apep needs something to be full again," Grant explained.

"What might that something be?" questioned Mr. D. Grant and Sara looked at each other for a second again, and for the first time, they both took off their shades. Some people actually gasped when the saw that the duo had blood red eyes like their father.

"The Shadow of the Nile," Grant answered slowly.

"The what?" I asked.

"The Shadow of the Nile, is the one of the Five Shadows," Sara said," the Shadow of the Underworld, the Shadow of the Desert, the Shadow of the Sun, the Shadow of the Moon, and the one we just told you about."

"The Shadow of the Desert gives the user the power over the elements, the Shadow of the Underworld give the user the power to revive the dead, and the Shadow of the Nile gives the power over life and death," Grant explained.

"What about the Shadow of the Sun and Moon?" asked Chiron.

"Those two are what keep reality tied together; it would give the user power over reality," Grant answered.

"Why does Apep need the Shadow of the Nile?" asked Annabeth.

"So he can be complete, that's kind of obvious," said Sara," and he will rule the universe out of pure fear."

"Will he go for any of the other powers?" Clarisse asked.

"Probably not," Grant answered.

"What makes you so sure?" the daughter of Ares demanded. Grant's eyes seemed to glow for a second, but then they dulled.

"Apep tried to use the Shadow of the Sun to increase his power and decrease the gods' power," Grant answered," but when he did, reality was at risk of falling apart, to use that power would be putting the fate of all that is at risk."

"Why did he kidnap Shelby?" asked Silena.

"We're not sure," answered Sara after a brief pause.

"These powers are something Kronos would want," Grover brought up. Everyone nodded on that, it seemed likely.

"If you're talking about the Titan Lord, don't put you're money on it," Grant disagreed," they are powers that should not be tampered with." But everyone was ignoring him at the moment.

"He'll probably steal the Shadow of the Sun to make him more powerful," Beckendorf said.

"He might take the Shadow of the Nile if he can beat Apep to it," Clarisse stated.

"Listen to me!" Grant snapped slamming down his fist, but no one paid any attention at all.

"Listen to me you Greek slime!" Grant yelled, everyone turned to look at him.

"What did you call us?" Silena questioned angrily, beginning to stand up.

"You heard him," Sara growled.

"You Egyptian scum!" the Stoll brothers yelled together, Clarisse, began to reach towards her side as if going to get something, and Grant reached back and began to unsheathe something, but Sara grabbed his hand and shook her head.

"Enough, all of you!" Chiron announced with a harsh yell, banging his hoof on the floor," Now I think you two need to consult the oracle."

"Never, to do that will be against our heritage!" Sara snapped.

"Did we mention, she's a mummy?" Grover bribed. The two siblings looked at each other, and then Grant nodded, and without a word, they walked out of the room.

Several minutes later, the duo returned, with a slightly insulted look on their faces.

"What is it now?" asked Mr. D impatiently.

"That is a withered corpse, you Greeks have respect for the undead," Grant said harshly.

"Well, did you get anything?" I asked.

Sara took a deep breath and began. "You will seek the family who was lost, you shall face the ones who are never free, one shall die at the hands of your father, you shall journey to the city where dead can see, and you will unlock the ultimate power," she stated.

"What can that mean?" Grover asked.

"We don't know, but we can make this conclusion, the live lost will not be one of ours, it is physically impossible for either for us to die in the desert," Grant stated.

"Real assuring," Clarisse said.

"Long story short, one way or another, we will find at least one of the Five Shadows during the quest to rescue Shelby," Sara said.

"Now you need to take some people," Chiron declared.

"We will go alone," declared Grant.

"You can't, you have to choose," Annabeth said.

"Fine then, Percy and Grover, you're in," said Grant.

"Annabeth, over here," said Sara, gesturing.

"I must go," said Tyson as he stood up from the side lines.

"No way, we will not take him," said Sara, I glared at her. Grant looked at Sara and the forged a quick conversation in Ancient Egyptian.

"Never mind, you're in," said Sara.

"We will depart immediately," declared Grant.

**Note, I am having writers block with this story, so will you please post some ideas for me to use, I will give you credit.**


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